The people behind Dewlands
About Us
Creative direction. A team to carry it through.
Your project brings together creative thinking, planting knowledge, project leadership and practical construction experience. Eugene leads the design direction, supported by the Dewlands team and the specialists each commission needs. Together, we help you move from the first possibilities to a place that works beautifully in everyday life.
Our perspective
Beyond the first request
Dewlands began with garden design and grew through projects that asked broader questions. A new garden may start with rethinking how the house sits in its surroundings and how people move between inside and outside. A garage or garden room might unlock a different way of using the whole property.
We remain interested in both the defined project and the larger opportunity. What matters is finding the right response for the people and the place.
Beauty and practical intelligence
Ideas that can become real
Our work connects design with planning, technical detail, cost and construction. That practical understanding helps us judge which ideas are worthwhile and how to carry them through.
We want the result to be more than a compelling photograph: a place that feels connected, supports ordinary days and gives lasting pleasure.
Planning and sensitive places
Creative ambition, grounded in its setting
Our experience spans permitted-development projects, locally listed properties, heritage applications and challenging rural sites in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We bring design and planning thinking together from the outset, drawing on specialist advice where it strengthens the proposal.
We are comfortable working with the forms, proportions and materials of rural buildings, and equally at ease with contemporary properties. The aim is a design that belongs in its setting while making a meaningful difference to the way people live.
Rooted in the South East
Based near Crowborough, we work across Kent, Sussex and the wider South East. Design and consultancy commissions can take us further afield where the project is a good fit.
We are drawn to distinctive homes and rural places, old and new, where thoughtful change can make the property more complete.
Explore Projects →The people behind the work
The Team
Eugene Hill
Founder and Designer
Eugene brings together a designer’s imagination, an engineer’s curiosity and a love of making things. After a career in engineering and business, converting barns into his own family home helped turn a longstanding interest into a new direction. He founded Dewlands in 2015, following garden-design training at Oxford College of Garden Design. His approach considers house and garden together: understanding how people want to live, finding the potential in a place, and working through the details that bring it to life.
Sam Hill
Partner and Business Operations
Sam is a partner in Dewlands and keeps the many moving parts of the business working together. She looks after purchasing, coordinates deliveries and manages the accounts and administration that support our projects. Working closely with Eugene, she helps turn plans into action, keeping track of the details and making sure things happen when they need to. Her contribution runs through everything we do: making the complex manageable so the team can concentrate on creating.
Lucy Welsh
Garden and Planting Designer
Lucy brings a deep knowledge of plants and an understanding of how gardens grow and change over time. Working alongside Eugene, she helps develop ideas into garden designs, detailed drawings and planting plans, considering structure, colour and interest through the seasons. Her experience combines years of practical gardening with formal horticultural and garden-design training. She enjoys creating planting that belongs in its setting and gives a garden more to offer as it matures.
Andy Osborne
Project Manager
Andy helps turn the design into a well-organised building project, bringing people, materials and the programme together. His experience spans bespoke homes, larger residential developments and refurbishment, taking projects from early preparation through to completion and aftercare. Originally trained as a Royal Navy marine engineer, he brings a practical understanding of how things work and how different trades fit together. At Dewlands, he works closely with Eugene and the site team to keep the many moving parts coordinated.
Ben Spilstead
Site Lead
Ben leads the day-to-day work on site, enjoying the process of seeing a project grow from the first foundations to a finished space people can use and enjoy. With more than 25 years in building, his experience includes extensions, conversions, groundworks, drainage, carpentry and paving. He brings that breadth of practical knowledge to Dewlands’ building and landscape projects, with particular satisfaction in getting the details right. Looking after a client’s home and leaving the site tidy matter to him as much as the work itself.
Daniel Latter
Skilled Builder
Daniel brings a bricklayer’s eye and practical building experience to the Dewlands team. Trained in bricklaying at college, he has worked on new homes and extensions, with skills extending to groundworks, digger operation and laying patios. That combination supports our work across buildings and gardens, from preparing the ground to creating the walls and surfaces that give a place its shape.
Where a project calls for planning, engineering, ecology, heritage or independent cost advice, we involve the appropriate specialists. Knowing who is needed—and when—is part of good design leadership.
Our own construction capability allows us to deliver selected Dewlands designs. We also work with external contractors, with an agreed role for the practice in protecting the design through delivery.